So, the First <1KBRL Challenge is over.

A total of 14 entries were produced

• Berserker Troll Hunt by Konijn_, Online
• C# <1kRl by Nick Coughlin Homepage
• Deveah’s Source Executable
• Energon Absorber by Numeron  Post
• Fur Hunter by Jakub Debski Homepage
• Ido’s Source
• LUCK! by Slash Homepage Online
• Nate879’s Homepage
• Ooooorrrrcs! by Jakub Debski Homepage
• Oh Rats by BlackEye Download Source and Executable
• Pink Warrior by Jurgen Lerch  Post
• Ten levels of slaughter by  Konstantin Post
• Tower of Doom Chr M Charles Executable
• Xecutor’s Post

You may think it is pointless to make efforts to work a game on less than 1KB of source code nowadays… if i am a bit possitive, the best you could think would be “hey, it’s fun for the developer… let him be!” or “well, thats a pretty cool way to waste whatever work could go into a REAL game”.

I have news for you, and I can’t really explain it. The entries you are about to be reviewed have something, may be having such restriction in the quantity of code to create “playability” makes the developer of the game do what really matters into the game, no place for plot, no place for the simplest of effects, no place for munchkinism, no place for cool, complex algorithms or a full-live-world simulation. It is all about The Game.

I didn’t have the pleasure of living through the ages of classic gaming, but I think this is as close as I can get. My best guess (and great hope) is things were like this before. It is a shame everything has changed so much (natural de-evolution, one day soon we will be able to play games like these <1KBRLs inside a “real”, photorealistic videogame).

Play the games, you will really enjoy them. Also, be sure to tell the author he rocks, and fight with your friends for the highest score or equivalent. Use the roguetemple forums when needed.

So, without further ado, I announce the start of the 1st <1KBRL Challenge reviewing cycle, which start with an really interesting entry: Ooooorrrrcs!

The crazy “denziens” of rec.games.roguelike.development have announced the new, sadistic challenge of writing a roguelike in less than 1KibiBytes of source code!

Here goes some samples, proceed to rgrd to see more and submit yours!:

LUCK by “yours truly” (Java)

import sz.csi.jcurses.JCursesConsoleInterface;public class X{static
int xr,yr,xp,yp,xs,ys,xo,yo,v,r,i,e=300,s;static boolean map[][]=new
boolean[20][20];static int r(){return (int)(Math.random()*19.0d);}public
static void main(String[] p){while (i < 20){map[r()][r()]=true;i++;}c.cls();
p(21,1,”Slash1KBRL - LUCK :)!”);o:while(true){if(xo==xp&yo==yp)
{xo=21+v;yo=3;r++;}if(xs==xp&ys==yp){xs=r();ys=r();xp=r();yp=r();
xo=r();yo=r();v++;}yr=0;while(yr<20){xr=0;while(xr<20){p(yr,
xr,map[xr][yr]?”#”:”.”);xr++;}yr++;}p(2,22,”L”+v+” R”+r+” E”+e+”  “);
p(xp,yp,”@”);p(xs,ys,”>”);p(xo,yo,”)”);switch(c.inkey().code){case 112:
yp–;break;case 108:yp++;break;case 90:xp–;break;case 93:xp++;
break;case 40:break o;}e–;if(e==0){p(2,23,”LOST”);break o;}if(v==20)
{s=10-r;if(s>0)p(2,23,”LOSER”);else p(2,23,”WON “+s);break o;}}}
static JCursesConsoleInterface c = new JCursesConsoleInterface();
static void p(int x,int y,String m){c.print(x, y, m);}}

Pink Warrior, by Jurgen Lerch

PROGRAM p;USES Graph;CONST c=319;l=199;f=15;VAR
k:CHAR;d:ARRAY[0..c,0..l]OF SMALLINT;w,z:ARRAY[0..11]OF SMALLINT;
n,u,v,x,y:SMALLINT;BEGIN x:=f;y:=30001;InitGraph(x,y,”);
FOR x:=0 TO c DO BEGIN d[x,0]:=f;d[x,l]:=f END;FOR y:=0 TO l DO BEGIN
d[0,y]:=f;d[c,y]:=f END;FOR n:=0 TO 3456 DO d[Random(c),Random(l)]:=f;
FOR n:=0 TO 11 DO BEGIN w[n]:=Random(c);z[n]:=Random(l) END;
FOR x:=0 TO c DO FOR y:=0 TO l DO PutPixel(x,y,d[x,y]);
x:=160;y:=100;PutPixel(x,y,13);REPEAT Read(k);PutPixel(x,y,0);
CASE k OF’8′:IF d[x,y-1]<>f THEN DEC(y);’2′:IF d[x,y+1]<>f THEN INC(y);
‘4′:IF d[x-1,y]<>f THEN DEC(x);’6′:IF d[x+1,y]<>f THEN INC(x);
END;FOR n:=0 TO 11 DO IF(x=w[n])AND(y=z[n])THEN w[n]:=-1;
PutPixel(x,y,13);FOR n:=0 TO 11 DO BEGIN u:=w[n];v:=z[n];IF u>0 THEN
BEGIN PutPixel(u,v,0);CASE Random(4)OF 0:IF d[u,v-1]<>f THEN DEC(z[n]);
1:IF d[u,v+1]<>f THEN INC(z[n]);2:IF d[u-1,v]<>f THEN DEC(w[n]);
3:IF d[u+1,v]<>f THEN INC(w[n]);END;PutPixel(w[n],z[n],4);IF(w[n]=x)
AND(z[n]=y)THEN k:=#27;END END;UNTIL k=#27;CloseGraph;END.

Energon Absorber by Numeron

class M{static char m[][]=new char[10][10];static int
k,X=5,Y=5,x,y,a,b,s,t,e=10;public static void main(String[] A)throws
Exception{for(;y<10;y++)for(x=0;x<10;x++){if(m[x][y]!=’e'){m[x]
[y]=’.';if(Math.random()<.1&&e>0&&!(x==5&&y==5)){m[x]
[y]=’e';e–;}}if(x==9&&y==9&&e>0)x=y=0;}m[X][Y]=’@';while(true)
{e=0;for(y=0;y<m[0].length;y++){for(x=0;x<m.length;x++)
{System.out.print(m[x][y]);if(m[x][y]==’e')e+
+;}System.out.println();}if(e!=0)System.out.println(”t:”+t+”  e:”+e
+”\n”);else System.out.println(”U Win! t:”+t
+”\n”);k=System.in.read();if(e==0)System.exit(0);m[X]
[Y]=’.';if(k==50&&Y!=9){Y++;if(e!=0)t++;}if(k==52&&X!=0){X–;if(e!=0)t+
+;}if(k==54&&X!=9){X++;if(e!=0)t++;}if(k==56&&Y!=0){Y–;if(e!=0)t+
+;}m[X][Y]=’@';}}}

The dudes at crawl.akrasiac.org have announced a public tournament to take place during the month of August! It is time to prove your dungeon crawling skills against talented crawlers from all around the world!

Hello everyone! With help from a cast of characters always growing and always awesome, I’m putting together the first Crawl tournament in the style of various nethack tournaments, including the /dev/null network tournament and Eidolos’s June tournaments. Here are the basics:

* You play as many games as you want for the entirety of August.
* Wins get you meta-points, especially for the fastest or first or streaks.
* High scores in race/class combinations get you meta-points, especially if you have the most of them.
* Getting runes and killing uniques also get you meta-points, so you don’t need to be a Crawl Champion to get your name up on the scoreboard.
* Clans of six players or less are encouraged and clans have their own special additional meta-points to determine which clan wins.
* There should be at least one server in the US and at least one in Europe; if you’re interested in hosting a server, please send me email.

You don’t need to do anything to sign up other than play on CAO. When there is specific information about the exact start/end times, specific information about clan memberships, and a webpage with the current status of “Who’s winning each prize?,” I’ll post again. If it tempts you at all, there will be actual, physical, you-not-your-character can touch them prizes. :)

The tournament has started, you are still on time to get in! Go to Crawl at akrasiac.org

Also, join roguetemple’s clan and fight for glory and fame!

The 2008 Roguelike Soundtrack Contest entries have been published! Check out the contest homepage and vote for your favorite!

They were 15 valiant bards entering the dreadful labyrinth of the 2008 roguelike soundtrack contest. Only 8 of them survived the traps and hidden creatures. You can vote until July, 20 23:59 GMT for your favorite soundtrack

Thank you Mingos and Jice for arranging this contest. And thank you contestants for providing us with quality soundtracks!

Check the Interview with Mingos for further details!

Mr. Mingos and Jice, roguedevs of Umbrarum Regnum and Doryen, have announced a competition with no precedence, the 2008 Roguelike Soundtrack Contests!

The contest will provide the roguelike scene with new media content, it is your chance to become a widely known roguelike musician!

Music composition is a skill not many roguedevs have, but if you do, jump into the contest!